The Lacquered Nerd

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

I wanted to do something a little more abstract again so I thought- why not mix up a bunch of designs with halloween colors? They're all super easy to do and your imagination is the limit. I left the ring finger blank so you could see the gorgeous orange underneath. It's Nicole by OPI "Fresh Squeezed". So pretty!

Thursday, 13 October 2011

I wanted to do something a little more sophisticated for my next Halloween nail. Not everyone likes little pumpkins or spiders on their nails and I wanted to do something that could be worn to work (albeit not a super conservative workplace) and be festive but not so literal.

Thus, I give you- sexy blood red gradient nails!

Can you imagine how cool this would look with a vampire costume on Halloween? My nails are kinda short right now but it would look even better on long nails. If you're wondering how many hours it took and that it must be a super difficult technique- fear not! It's so easy to do! It took me maybe 15 minutes per hand and I got the tutorial here:

I'm so happy with the results. My nails look so cool, I hope you guys agree! My skin and cuticles on the other hand... well combined with the dry Calgary weather and lots of attempts at figuring out something sexy and wearable have wrecked my hands. As soon as this is posted I'll be slathering on the moisturizer.

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

I haven't been posting for a while and well- this cute little face is why!

Please excuse the not so nice background- we're in the middle of renovating!

That's right we got a puppy! He's just a furry bundle of cuteness... and energy! So you'll understand why I haven't had much time on my hands to paint my nails. :) However part of the reason why I wanted to start blogging was to get myself practicing some nail art. I was especially looking forward to awesome Halloween nail art! So now that the puppy is a little bit better trained and October is here I thought I should start doing a series of Halloween themed nail art! This was the first attempt:

Not bad if I say so myself! I'm definitely looking forward to improving though! The base color is a beautiful lilac creme called "How Do You Lilac It?". I just love this color. It is just the perfect shade of lilac and also makes for a gorgeous pedicure color. Maybe not exactly what comes to mind for a Halloween color but I think it works! It also always reminds me of my wedding because it's almost the same exact color or my sister-in-law's bridesmaid dress! Happy times! :)

The black for the spiderweb and spider are LA Colors's Art Deco in black. It's just a run of the mill nail art polish.

Anyway, I hope there are still people out there reading and I hope you enjoyed this first part in a series of spoooky nails! :) If you have any requests or ideas please let me know what you'd like to see!

Friday, 9 September 2011

For those not familiar with nail polish blog vernacular, here's a crash course.

VNL- visibile nail line (specifically in reference to a polish that is sheer enough you can see the white part of your nails)

Lemming- A term for a polish you've been wanting for a long time.

Franken- A mix of two or more polishes, glitters etc. Basically taking existing polish and mixing them together to come up with a different color.

Franken two nail polishes I was never a big fan of is exactly what I did. Yodel Me On My Cell and William Tell Me About OPI are both from last years Swiss collection. Yodel Me On My Cell is a shimmery medium blue with green undertones. It's pretty but not really my cup of tea. William Tell Me About OPI is a dark plummy creme color that looks black unless in direct sunlight. And.... not that it really matters but they both have pretty stupid names!

Sorry it's a bit messy, I was in a hurry. But holy cow! So pretty! Just a few drops of WTMAO made YMOMC (see how stupid these names are?) so much more intense and gorgeous! I'm so glad that I'll finally be using up two polishes that would otherwise be gathering dust. What do you think? I'm tempted to name my creation but I'm not sure what. Any ideas? Certainly just about anything would be better than the names of its parents!

Friday, 2 September 2011

Essie Private Bash is a red berry creme polish I picked up several years ago. I'm glad I rediscovered it because it is just oh so fall! The application was nice enough, very opaque on the first coat. However I did notice a bubble or two. I don't know if that was because of the formula, me or because the polish is 3 years old.

Are you excited for Fall? What's your favorite part about Autumn? I love hot apple cider and beautiful scarves but most of all the changing of the leaves. Unfortunately we don't get the amazing display here like back home in Upstate NY. Fall is gold and brown which is quickly followed up by snow here. ;)

Thursday, 1 September 2011

Did you see this combination coming a mile away? I just had to see what Charisma and White Cap are like together. Yup, I'm kinda obsessed.

It looks great in the pictures, but honestly, I wasn't blown away. I felt it wasn't super flattering against my skin tone. The gold glitter was pretty but I felt like the milky-ness of White Cap didn't look nice over top Charisma. Meh, or maybe I just wasn't feeling it that day. I don't know. I ended up taking it off and trading it for Midtown Magic.

In non-nail polish news, today was especially clear and crisp so I decided to take a walk. Ten minutes later, I snapped this spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains!

Click to Embiggen

I just love love love my city so much! I can't imagine ever getting tired of seeing the Rockies. To my husband and his friends (lifetime residents of Calgary) it's just kinda old hat. To me... well you'd think I had just seen each mountain individually flown in via helicopter and strategically placed right in front of me. It's just magical! I've had to fortune to live in three vastly different locations in the last 2 years. They all have their own beauty and have a special place in my heart that won't be replaced. Yet it sure is hard to compete with snow capped mountains outside your door!

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Summer doesn't last long when you live in Canada and a chilly morning prompted me to break out fall clothes. The warm purple of my sweater inspired me to reach for Zoya's Charisma. Charisma was one of the very first nail polishes I ever picked up. It's a beautiful neon pink-y purple (or purple-y pink depending on what light you're standing in). Like most neons it dries matte. This took me off guard at first but once a glossy top coat was added it found its way into regular use.

Zoya Charisma

matte finish

with top coat in direct sunlight

Like I mentioned before, Charisma changes quite a bit depending on the light. It's quite a chameleon! In direct sunlight it's a watermelon pink. Indoors its a raspberry color. In low light it looks like a medium warm purple. I enjoy colors that shift and change so much! It almost feels like it changes with your mood.

raspberry color indoors

in low light against my sweater

I hope you liked Charisma! As for me, I'm going to cuddle up in a warm blanket! Brrr!

About Me

I'm a former New Yorker currently living in Calgary, AB with my husband. I have too much time on my hands so I paint my nails. I have other interests too like camping, terrible movies, makeup, good sci fi, dinosaurs and spending time with my wonderful family and friends.